We need to talk about our obesity problem

A quarter of children and adolescents were overweight or obese in 2014-15. Source: iStock.Source:istock

AUSTRALIA is one of the fattest countries in the world and two in three Australians are now overweight or obese, claims an explosive new report.

It shows our obsession with food has ranked us as the fifth most overweight and obese nation among all OECD countries — and we’re getting fatter by the day.

More than 11.2 million adults (63 per cent) and 1.2 million children (26 per cent) have a BMI 25 or higher, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) findings released today.

“Adults in 2014-15 were significantly more likely to be obese than those of the same age 20 years earlier,” AIHW’s Dr Lynelle Moon said.

Australia is getting fatter. Source: AIHW.Source:Supplied

The report also shows stark differences between regional and metropolitan Australia. People from lower income backgrounds and those living in regional areas were more likely to be overweight and obese.

This divide can also be seen with younger generations. More than one-third (36 per cent) of children aged between two and 17 in outer regional areas were overweight or obese compared to 22 per cent in inner regional areas and 25 per cent in major cities.

Of the top 10 fattest regions in Australia, nine are regional, according to the findings.

Regions of Australia with the highest rates of overweight and obese adults.

1. Country South Australia, where a whopping 73.3 per cent of adults are classed as overweight

2. Western New South Wales (17.1 per cent)

3. Darling Downs & West Moreton, QLD (70.1 per cent)

=3. Western Victoria (70.1 per cent)

4. South-eastern NSW (69.1 per cent)

5. Hunter New England and Central Coast (68.4 per cent)

6. Murray, VIC/NSW (68.2 per cent)

7. Tasmania (67.5 per cent)

8. Central QLD, Wide Bay and Sunshine Coast (68.4 per cent)

9. Nepean Blue Mountains (66.9 per cent)

10. Country WA (65.9 per cent)

Australians are far larger than the OECD average. Source: AIHW.Source:Supplied

Regions of Australia with the lowest rates of overweight and obese adults.

1. Northern Sydney, the affluent north shore of Sydney boasts the slimmest collective waistline in the country. However, more than half (53.4 per cent) of adults are overweight.

It shows that 28 per cent of everyone over 15 in Australia is overweight which gives us the inglorious accolade of having the fifth highest obesity rate in the world.

Only the United States (38 per cent), Mexico (33 per cent), New Zealand (32 per cent), and Hungary (30 per cent) are fatter. Japan has the lowest rate of obesity (4 per cent).

Dr Moon said the research showed the obesity crisis was deepening and successive generations were getting fatter and fatter.

“For instance, when looking at people born in the mid-1990s, we found that about 15 per cent were obese at age 18-21,” she said. “This is almost double the proportion of obese 18-21 year olds who were born two decades earlier (8 per cent)”.

A similar pattern held true for very young children. About nine per cent of children aged between two and five born in the early 2010s were obese, compared with about four per cent, just two decades earlier.

“Obesity is a risk factor for many chronic health conditions, so its presence at younger ages among those born more recently is likely to lead to higher rates of these conditions at younger ages,” Dr Moon said.

She said the rate of obesity in Australia had almost doubled in a decade. In 1995, five per cent of Australian adults were severely obese, but by 2014-15 this grew to nine per cent.

Dr Moon said the report showed lower socio-economic groups and those living outside of major cities were at risk.

“Compared with non-indigenous Australians, indigenous adults are also more likely to be overweight or obese and indigenous children and adolescents are more likely to be obese,” she said.

Young people were also particularly at risk of stacking on the kilos, according to AIHW.

Dr Moon says you are much more likely to be obese than your parents were when they were your age.

Children are at particular risk of becoming obese, the report claims. Source: iStock.Source:Supplied